Martyrs and Genocide day in Sydney

Hosted by MP Andrew Rohan, the event held speeches from local politicians MP Craig Kelly, MLC Honourable David Clarke and Rev the MLC Honourable Fred Nile.  Dr. Racho Donef said the Assyrian genocide is surrounded by a century of struggle and denialism. 

“The Turkish state convinced itself more or less that denialism is the only path to follow,” he said. Although it is customary to refer to the genocide of 1915, the backgrounds of the massacres go back to at least 30 years.

Guest speaker Stavros Stavridis viewed Australian documents and press accounts of Assyrian history during 1914-1935. “Assyrians have suffered extremely on the hands of the perpetrators, it is time for Turkey to stop playing games that these things didn’t happen, all you need to do if you exclude all the Assyrian, 

Greek, Armenian and German documents, is to look into the State Department Documents, one after one shows clear evidence that there was a deliberate act of genocide,” he said.

AUA Deputy Secretary General Hermiz Shahen said as a result of the Ottoman Empire’s ethnic cleansing during World War 1, millions of indigenous ethnic souls perished.

Mr. Shahen called on members of Federal and State parliaments to support the motion to recognize the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek genocide. “At least 750,000 Assyrians, 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 Greeks were killed from the Pontos region,” he said.  

Members of parliament were in full support of the Assyrian plea and to help those still living in the Middle East. Assyrian Church of the East priests and AUA members joined at the Assyrian genocide monument in Bonnyrigg earlier Tuesday morning. The Assyrian people held a prayer ceremony dedicated to the victims of the genocide.  

International guest and film maker Andre Anton premiered his latest documentary Defying Deletion. The Australian premier of the short film Defying Deletion has been screened at the Sydney Parliament House and was shown to the public on Sunday 12 August at Hoyt’s Theatre in Wetherill Park with the presence of Mr. Andrew Rohan MP and Mr. Guy Zangari, MP. “We will help the Assyrian people as much as we can,” said Mr. Zangari. “We praise all the hard work and dedication from the AUA, he said.

The multi-award winning film shows the struggles that the indigenous people of Iraq are facing today.  Mr. Anton said “If the United States and other countries fail to assist Assyrians in securing their human rights and assuring their survival in their ancient homeland, I fear that Assyrians will disappear from the world”. “We are looking to premier the film to the European Union.” He said

Assyrian Universal Alliance- Australian Chapter

PO Box 34, Fairfield NSW 1860 Australia.
E-mail: auaaustralia@optusnet.com.au

South Wales on Tuesday 7th

August 2012.